EJ Manuel isn’t interested in the woeful recent history of the NFL franchise that now employs him.

“This is my first year here, so I’m not used to losing,” the Bills rookie quarterback said last week.

Unfortunately, Bills fans have become far too accustomed to it, and on opening day last Sunday, the Bills reacquainted their tortured followers with their innate ability to lose a game that seemed so imminently winnable, falling to the not-so-dynastic-anymore New England Patriots on a last-second field goal.

All the excitement that had built up leading to the first game, spurred by the tidal wave of change in the organization that swept out the old and injected some much-needed vibrancy into the team, went poof. Tom Brady guided the Patriots downfield in the waning minutes to a game-winning Stephen Gostkowski field goal, and the common refrain heard from the grumbling masses exiting Ralph Wilson Stadium was, “Same old Bills.”

Well, Manuel and new coach Doug Marrone don’t want to hear it. They don’t care about 13 years without a playoff appearance, or only one above-.500 record during that miserable epoch. They weren’t part of that ineptitude, and they only want to look to the future, starting with Sunday’s home game at the sold-out Ralph against the Carolina Panthers.

“You’ve got to try to change that mentality,” Marrone said of the fans’ ever-present and understandable fear that the Bills will always find a way to mess things up. “It’s kind of like the ‘Woe is me, here we go again’ situation and that’s not what we want.”

Manuel, who did plenty of winning during his tenure at Florida State, was disappointed by the final result against the Patriots. And the good thing, he said, is that his teammates were just as irritated by the loss — a good sign in his mind.

“Winning is an attitude,” he said. “I do think we should have closed that game out, but we didn’t. But moving forward you have to have a really good attitude; if you lose one week that does not mean you’re going lose the second week.”

And so the Bills will try to bounce back from that heartbreaker against the Panthers of Cam Newton, who will be trying to do the same thing as Carolina is coming off a tough 12-7 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Marrone knows his young team is going to negotiate peaks and valleys — probably a few more valleys than peaks — this season. There’s too much newness and too much youth to expect the Bills to become instant playoff contenders.

“I think there’s some truth to that; I’d be lying if I said I didn’t agree with that,” Marrone said when asked if the Bills have to learn how to win.

However, that doesn’t mean the Bills will go into any game without supreme confidence that they will do the things they need to do to win. Sunday, the list is pretty basic.

At the top is getting C.J. Spiller running the way everyone knows he can run. He had a terrible opener, gaining just 55 yards from scrimmage, and while much of the problem was the Patriots’ constant keying on him, Spiller knows he didn’t play well and has to be better. It won’t be easy against a Carolina front seven that is every bit as good as New England’s.

“If you want to become one of the great players, you have to be willing to put that game behind you and move on,” he said. “I’m not worried about that performance derailing or going to have an effect on the whole season. It’s just one game, they did a great job. I’ve moved it behind me and I’m focused on another tough task with Carolina.”

What would help Spiller is for offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett to give Manuel a more diverse game plan, one that includes a few more downfield throws. Manuel wasn’t giving away any state secrets, but he insinuated that will be the case.

“You want to stretch the field and things like that and that’s what we plan on doing,” he said.

And on defense, the Bills need to play better on third down. The Patriots sustained drives — including the last one of the game — by converting 11 of 20 third-down plays and it resulted in the defense having to play more than 37 minutes, which makes it almost impossible to win.

“I feel like a lot of times we were in good position,” defensive end Mario Williams said. “We just have to make the tackle and get him down. As a team, as a defense we have to make the plays.”

It won’t be easy against Newton, a quarterback who can extend plays with his legs, making it all the more difficult on third down.

“He can make the throws, has a strong arm, and is obviously gifted athletically,” Williams said. “He can get out of the pocket and make plays. I think the biggest thing is trying to keep him under wraps early. Don’t let him get hot. When you’ve got somebody like Brady and now you’ve got a guy who is more mobile, more athletic and more liable to run, it’s definitely a change-up.”

Difficult as the test will be, on both sides of the ball, the Bills need to get it done. It’s the only way they can start developing a winning mentality.

“We need to respond quickly here and get us a win this week,” said center Eric Wood.